HTO Hires EARTHCOMB to Initiate Homeless Job Program - Cleaning Abandoned Camps

The “Holy Grail” of abandoned homeless sites is being tackled today, Monday, August 30, 2022, in a cleanup being done by a team of homeless workers who have been enlisted by EARTHCOMB, the brainchild, and business of Andrew Velikanje.

The Holy Grail site, located at the end of So Kellogg Ave, in Goleta, is the second in HTO’s list of over 20 abandoned camps identified in a survey done by HTO Field Advisor Harry Rabin. The first site, in the So. Fairview area of Goleta, HTO paid Earthcomb to tackle, and Andrew cleaned it up himself, with the pile of bags picked up by MarBorg Industries the next day.

Inspecting the sites listed on Rabin’s survey, Andrew came to site “Number 6”, next to the Schwan Brothers Excavating Contractors yard on So. Kellogg, and called Hillary Hauser, Executive Director of Heal the Ocean, and said, “This is the Holy Grail!” – meaning it was mammoth and it was bad. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Ben Sandu was brought in to inspect and OK cleanout and Brian Borgatello of MarBorg Industries came in to size up the need for roll-offs/trash bins, and more manual labor.

The Schwan Brothers were so glad to see the cleanup coming, they have offered their own roll-off/trash bin, and even to pay for the hauling and dumping (Thank you, Jason, this represents considerable savings to HTO!). The Earthcomb workers will begin on the site today, with MarBorg workers arriving tomorrow, Tuesday, to gather up the rest.

“Look at this short video of the site these gentlemen are working on today,” said Hillary. “No wonder Andrew (who took the video) called it the Holy Grail – it is giant, and is right smack on San Jose creek!”

Hauser says the work of Earthcomb might be the most significant work that could be done to remove ocean pollution sources from storm drains, creeks, or runoff to the ocean.

Earthcomb has cleaned up almost 9 tons of trash from the Rincon underpass, Rincon Bluffs, Carpinteria Bluffs, East Beach, Painted Cave, Highway 154, Lake Cachuma, and many other sites. See his “Vroom Vroom” videos that record this work on his Earthcomb website, where the motto is, “We’re cleaning up what you’re putting down.”

Andrew created the Earthcomb website – and did the work – singlehandedly while living in his car for six months. He is an illustration of one of the successful methods of “Functional Zero,” which is to get to know the homeless person by name and get to know his/her experience.

Sharon Byrne, Executive Director of Hands Across Montecito has formed a successful group that visits encampments with this in mind – and it is this group that pulled Andrew Velikanje indoors. Andrew now does outreach to other homeless people. Sheriff Ben Sandu does the same and has successfully found shelter for a number of people who had been living outdoors.

As for Andrew, he now has a home, with an office where he has set up a system to keep track of his work and his workers, for the benefit of us all.

Anyone interested in contributing snacks, water, etc. for the workers, please call the Heal the Ocean office for site location and/or to drop off items at the site or office. Call Alison at (805) 965-7570 for information or directions.

HTO Flags are Up on State Street!

Heal the Ocean’s brilliant deep-blue flags are flying on State Street– a week of ocean celebration in the center of town that also celebrates our birthday of August 1998! When HTO was invited in 2006 to participate in the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s State Street Flag Program, we were extremely honored. We were the first and only environmental non-profit organization participating in this program, joining wonderful company like the American Red Cross, Girls, Inc., SEE International, United Way, and many other fine organizations.

Created by Chris Wilkinson of E-Wave, Santa Barbara, the HTO logo combines sun, mountain, river, and ocean to indicate the interconnectedness of all things to the sea, and to the happy dolphins that swim there. The actual flag design was created by architect Steve Hausz, who has served on the Downtown Organization’s flag committee.

We are so pleased that the week allotted to HTO’s flags every August encompasses the time when HTO executive director Hillary Hauser and local attorney Jeffrey Young co-founded Heal the Ocean during a public protest over the closed beaches in Santa Barbara.

HTO “Surf Dog” is About to Print… Last Day to Sign Up as Sponsor to Our Imaginary Event!

The response to Heal the Ocean’s “Surf Dog” Imaginary Event has been outrageous! And we are barking the great news that the sponsorships for this Event have surpassed all fundraising goals for any HTO event in our history. We thank Julia Louis-Dreyfus for being our Top Dog, our Imaginary Chair - and we thank all of you who have stepped forward so generously, to help us by purchasing sponsorships.

We are going to press this week with the sponsor names printed in the Surf Dog invitation, which everyone will receive in September. If you’re interested in catching a wave with HTO’s Dream Team, to be a sponsor, please call Alison Thompson at the HTO Office immediately – today - to make your sponsorship pledge - (805) 965-7570. You will be joining Heal the Ocean’s many luminaries who will be catching a wave with us at our 2021 Imaginary Gala!